The Utopianism of ‘Mental Health’. The UNC System is giving in to problematic student expectations.

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | September 11, 2023 | Michael C. Behrent and Martha McCaughey

[karpov]

"Mental health" has become a catchphrase of our time. In 1976, Raymond Williams, the British literary scholar, published Keywords, in which he analyzed nearly 200 words that, in his view, comprised the core vocabulary of modern Western societies. Among the terms that Williams identified were “democracy” and “capitalism,” “utilitarian” and “unconscious,” “reform” and “revolution.” If a new edition of Keywords were to appear, it would almost certainly include an entry on “mental health.”

The term “mental health” seems to have become mainstream after the Second World War, when the first International Congress on Mental Health was held in London in 1948. Yet, in current usage, its meaning has begun to sprawl. It refers, of course, to the traditional concerns of psychologists, psychiatrists, and counselors, but it also covers much more. In many ways, the rhetoric of “mental health” has become one of the major utopian discourses of our time. This becomes apparent in the way college students use mental-health discourse, as well as in the way administrators invoke it to appeal to students.

Consider the recent initiatives by the UNC Board of Governors and the UNC-System Office relating to mental health. In September 2020, the Board tasked the UNC System with making an assessment of the state of student mental-health provisions and proposing recommendations. The outcome of this request was a report, published in May 2021, entitled “Healthy Minds, Strong Universities: Charting a Course to More Sustainable Student Mental Health Care.” System officials updated the board on the status of these efforts at a meeting last May.

[ClearCase_guy]

From what I have seen, the people trained in psychology who write books, serve as counselors, or administer bureaucratic organizations almost always manufacture problems for people and make people less happy and less able to function in society.

[Chicory]

I don’t know about that—i think that the more recent methods in psychology have greatly improved it.

One thing I noticed was that the universities seem to be thinking of replicating... churches! in their idea of small communities.

[Socon-Econ]

The professor who wrote this article believes that we can make inherently unworkable governmental mental health programs work. All we have to do is finesse them enough so they don’t interfere with academic freedom.